Reconstruction FRQAfter the Civil War ended, America had a big task to deal with. There was devastation throughout the nation. The Reconstruction Era started, and the process of repairing the Union went underway. Newly freed slaves had to begin the process of adapting to society and making it on their own. They had some successes, but ultimately Reconstruction was a failure to African Americans. Reconstruction (1865-1877) failed to bring social and economic equality of opportunity to former American slaves due to supremacist groups who, along with most Southern whites, pushed for black codes to be passed which demoralized and limited African Americans rights, and forced them into falling back into slave like tendencies.

Some Southern whites were so embittered about their former slaves being free in society, that they turned to joining secret organizations that aimed to demoralize, scare, and terrorize freedmen. Many whites were resentful of the success and ability of black legislators as much as they were resentful for the corrupted souls pouring into the south. To deal with this resentment, secret groups like the KKK emerged. The KKK used tomfoolery, and violent force to prevent freedmen from voting. Many times they flogged, mutilated, or murdered freedmen to strike fear into those who knew and heard about the poor unfortunate soul who was tortured. The KKK would sometimes go on sprees of violence and leave hundreds of victims behind trembling or dead. This group, as well as others, was extreme racists who would stop at nothing to hurt freedmen. They even attacked helpless women and children, who were defenseless against the brute force of the white men. When Congress finally intervened, Supremacist groups had already done its work of intimidation. Many groups, including the KKK, continued their violent practices against the law and where rarely punished in court. Supremacist groups made an everlasting mark in preventing social and economic equality of...

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...The twelve-year era after the Civil War was called the Reconstruction Period. Reconstruction was a federal policy established immediately after the South surrendered; it was an attempt to create a new Southern society and heal the terrible wounds between the North and South. The three main goals of the Reconstruction were to "protect the rights of the freed slaves, rebuild the South's devastated economy, and enforce the loyalty of the ex-confederates . In spite of tremendous efforts, the Reconstruction Period failed to completely accomplish any of the three goals, but it was especially lacking in its attempts to make Blacks and whites equal and was a time of intense discrimination toward Blacks.
In 1865, at the end of the Civil War, the South was destroyed. Plantations were demolished, the economy was ruined, the labor system was shattered, and several million slaves were now free laborers. South Carolina looked like a "broad black streak of ruin and desolation" (Unger 414). In the Shenandoah Valley hardly any farm animals were left alive. Many cities had almost nothing left of their business districts (Unger 414). People in both the North and South were angry. The North was upset at the losses suffered in putting down an illegal insurrection and the South was angry at not being able to break away from what they felt was the oppressive government in Washington (Baldwin and Kelley 206).
Some of the more serious...

...PERIOD 1, US HISTORY ACC.
Question: To what extent was the Reconstruction a failure?
Reconstruction was the period directly after the end of the Civil War (1865-1877). This era was a necessary time for the United States to restore the divided nation. The eleven rebel states that had been defeated leaving the government unsure weather to punish or pardon them. In Reconstruction era, the three goals emerged from the federal government: rebuild the South, provide and protect freedman’s rights, and unify the nation. At the end of time period, only one came out successful, the physical unification. However, the other two goals lacked success.
The most difficult transition for the South was after the Emancipation Proclamation and final abolishment the 13th amendment. During this time, the US neutralized about 3-4 million slaves. When the government wanted to provide and protect freedman’s rights, they failed. Just like in unifying the nation, they only completed half of this goal. They provided the rights for the African-Americans. For example, the fourteenth amendment stating that the states couldn’t deny the basic rights of citizens. It basically gave freedman the rights of a white, including voting. However, when the African Americans’
attempted to go and vote, many were denied that right by means of harassment, torture, kidnap, or even murder. They KKK, or Klu Klux Klan, was formed for that very...

...Having very different opinions on what to do to unify the country again, there was the creation of many ideas, laws, amendments, and acts that led to what we call the Reconstruction period. The legacy of Reconstruction is good, as goals to reunify South and North were achieved. It is also very negative because racial inequalities continued in many different ways as black codes and Jim Crow laws kept blacks from being equal. Starting with the RadicalReconstruction, the South was attacked by laws that were intended to make them become states free of black oppression. Radical Republicans wrote the Civil War amendments that made every man free and equal, made them citizens and gave blacks the right to vote.
The father of Reconstruction, the first men to have a plan to “reconstruct” our nation was President Lincoln. He believed in forgiveness and reunification; he wanted the U.S. to heal quickly to better the prosperity of the countryii. His “Ten-Percent Plan” reflected his opinion on reunifying the nation. This plan required 10% of a Southern state to swear oath the union to gain the status as state and be accept back in the U.S. The only people that were not given amnesty were the Confederate Generals.
After President Lincoln’s assassination, his Vice-President took over and kept a very similar plan for reconstruction. President Johnson was a democrat that was not liked by congress because of his...

...﻿Reconstruction Essay
The time from 1865 - 1877 was called the Reconstruction period. Abraham Lincoln started planning for the reconstruction of the South during the Civil War, he wanted to bring the Nation back together as quickly as possible and in 1863 he offered his plan for Reconstruction which required that the States new constitutions prohibit slavery. In January 1865, Congress proposed an amendment to the Constitution, which would abolish slavery in the United States. On December 18, 1865, Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment formally abolishing slavery. The freed slaves still didn’t have citizenship and wanted wages, real estate, and voting rights. Black codes were adopted to regulate or inhibit the migration of free African-Americans to the mid-west. Southern legislatures passed laws that restricted the civil rights of the emancipated former slaves. Other states quickly adopted their own versions of the codes, some of which were so restrictive that they resembled the old system of slavery such as forced labor for various offenses. Congress passed an act in March 1865 to establish the Freedmen’s Bureau, which was organized to provide relief and assistance to the former slaves, including health services, educational services, and abandoned land services. In 1866, the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress, which outlined a number of civil liberties including the right to make contracts, own and sell...

...Evaluate the gains made by the blacks during ReconstructionReconstruction was during the period of 1865 to 1877, where attempts were made to solve the injustices of slavery and its political, social and economic legacy and solving the problems that would arise because of the readmission of the eleven states into the Union and has been long portrayed by many historians as a time when vindictive Radical Republicans fastened black supremacy upon the defeated confederacy. Some gains were made by the blacks during this time; slavery was abolished in the South, The Freedman’s Bureau was established which helped to gain small rights and privileges such as schools for the blacks, the blacks also gained the right to vote with the Fourteenth Amendment, there was some advancement in political office of the blacks, and they also gained wages and temporary land.
The first thing gained by the blacks at the beginning of reconstruction was the abolition of slavery in the South. According to Maldwyn A. Jones in Limits to liberty, Lincoln began the process of Reconstruction during the Civil War. In December 1863, Lincoln issued a proclamation outlining a general Reconstruction plan. All confederates, except for high civil and military leaders, would be granted amnesty once they had taken an oath of loyalty to the Union. As soon as the ten per cent of the electorate of any state had taken the oath, and accepted the...

...Congress put an effort to ensure that equal rights were given to freedman during reconstruction. The conflict was between the norths and south, the disputes between one another caused the south separated from the north because of the protective tariffs, unequal political power and different views on slavery. The dispute between the north and south caused the civil war. Due to the civil war 620,000 people were killed or wounded. Slavery was abolished but many properties were destroyed and it created huge tensions and problems between states. The south needed to reconstruct because of all the damage caused by the civil war. The reconstruction period accorded after the civil war. Due to the fact that congress made an effort in reconstruction and giving the freedmen equal rights, it was not permitted in the south. The freedmen were not ensured or allowed equal rights in the south because of many political, economic, and social causes. During reconstruction states reorganized under federal control and restored to the union. Lincoln created the ten year plan which pardons all southerners who pledged loyalty to the United States. Johnson followed Lincoln’s plans but Johnson readmitted the southern states to the union as long as the declared secession, swear allegiance to the union, and ratify the 13th amendment. New amendments were added to the constitution, the 13th, 14th, and 15th. The 13th amendment was the abolishment of...

...History/Newton
9/9/2013
Radical Reconstruction
I. Black Codes Anger Congress
A. Rights and Restrictions
1. Black codes granted some rights.
a. African Americans could marry legally
b. African Americans could own some kind of property
2. Black Codes forbade freedmen from things like:
a. The right to vote
b. The right to own guns
c. The right to serve on juries
3. The could work as servants or farm laborers, sometimes they had to sign contracts for a years' work and those without contracts could be arrested and sentenced to plantation work.
B. Congress Reacts
1. In 1866 angry whites burned homes, churches and schools in a black section of Memphis, Tennessee.
2. More than 40 African Americans were killed.
II. Rise of the Radicals
A. Republican Control
1. Moderate Republicans and Radicals disagreed on many issues, but they shared a strong political motive.
2. Congress passed the Civil Right's Act in April 1866.
B. Fourteenth Amendment
1. In 1857, the court ruled that African Americans were not citizens.
2. Republicans proposed the 14th Amendment.
3. In the 1950's, the Fourteenth Amendment became a powerful took in the struggle of citizenship rights.
III. Radicals in Power
A. Election of 1866
1. In July, white mobs in New Orleans killed 34 African Americans.
B. The Radical Program
1. Congress passed the first...

...Postbellum Reconstruction:
Immediate Success, Long Term Failure
by
Thesis
Both the presidency and Congress passed several reforms to attempt to solve all of these problems, however the progress that was made during Reconstruction was for the most part shot down by the Compromise of 1877.
Outline of the Contents
I. IntroThesis
II. Condition of the South Immediately Following the Civil War
III. The Presidential Reconstruction Plan
IV. The Congressional Reconstruction Plan
V. Economic Reform
VI. Social Strife
VII. Conclusion
VIII. Bibliography
When General Lee surrendered to the Union army in the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the period of Reconstruction began. The Civil War had settled the issue of slavery and the question of states' rights, but several problems remained in the torn nation. First, the Union had to be successfully reunited and control of the Southern states' governments had to be nurtured back to the national consensus. Second, the South was in a social chaos. Southerners' spirits had been broken by the war, and the pervasive issue of racism still had to be addressed. Newly emancipated slaves were without refuge, had little education, and their economic status was uncertain. Third, the South was in economic shambles: all of the wealth invested in slaves was gone, plantations lay in ruins, and railroads and cities were torn to shreds by the Union...